glitzpitfanaticfandomcom-20200214-history
Chapter 5 - Lack of Unanimity (TCOK)
Tubba shoved his way into the school, ignoring the exasperated glances he earned from his peers as he rudely shoved past them. His anger was boiling and he didn't care who came in his way; Bubba had infuriated him to no end once again. Schooling in the Clubba Kingdom was a very state-driven affair. The Clubba Kingdom had fallen behind other major Kingdoms of the Mushroom World in many aspects, but the most glaring discrepancy was in technology. The birth of scientist Elvin Gadd in 1936 in Sarasaland of the Mushroom Kingdom was often regarded of the beginning of the new dawn of the Mushroom World. The Mushroom World had travelled great lengths in the seven hundred years since science truly took off, but at the early twentieth century, sailing was still the fastest way to travel the world. It was then the Elvin Gadd story took off, and by 1960, Elvin Gadd had made himself a household name with revolutionary theories of the Mushroom World, and most importantly, heavier-than-air flight. The following decades were spent as a brutal competition of science between four of the six major Kingdoms of the world. While the Zaz Kingdom often kept to their west side of the world, and the Kremling Islands were far too archaic to embrace science, most of the other Kingdoms leapt on the chance. The sole outlier was the Clubba Kingdom, who spent most of the sixties directing their funding to military. It was indeed then that military King Karubba Blubba focused more on expanding boundaries than schooling of the Clubban young. The Mushroom Kingdom had Elvin Gadd, the BeanBean Kingdom had the world's top research institute, Woohoo Hooniversity, the Koopa Kingdom had the majority of the Magikoopas, and the Waffle Kingdom had many of the world's top scientists. The four drove each other, and the sixties became the decade of science, for all but the Clubba Kingdom. Airships, space travel and time travel were soon to come. As such, the Clubba Kingdom fell behind. It was just now, forty years later that Tubba heard his father, Tubba Sr., rejoice over the underperforming science sector's ability to learn about heavier-than-air flight. The time travel of the nineties for the other Kingdoms was still many years away for the Clubba Kingdom. In an effort to speed it up, the Clubba Kingdom focused on education rather than militia, for now. Tubba snapped himself out of his thoughts as he ascended the staircase to the fourth floor of the building. Because the School was funded by the state, every last Clubba aged three to fifteen attended the same School, a luxuriously large building that had more than enough space to fit all the young of the Kingdom. It was a four-floor building, with each floor effectively acting like it's own school. It was a tiering system, with the youngest Clubbas in what was known as "Floor One," and the oldest in "Floor Four." Floor Four was the best-funded and designed to direct Clubbas to their optimal career path. Tubba had heard his father rejoice that more Clubbas than ever before were going to the science sector, while still keeping the military strong. Tubba rudely shoved away the smaller Clubbas as he raced up the stairs. The cheering of his agemates when Bubba claimed victory still rang in his ears and drove him to a fury. He reached the fourth floor, and bolted across the tiled floor to his locker, quickly opening it, desperately trying to block out the noises of the other Clubbas in the hallways laughing at his disheveled appearance. "Don't let them get to you, Tubba." Gonzales caught up to Tubba, the heavy breath out of his nose the only indication of the pace he would have had to run at to catch up to Tubba. "They're just sycophants." Tubba slammed his locker with a thud after extricating his books from them. His internal ears were burning with anger, so he didn't even bother responding to Gonzales' efforts to comfort him as he stormed to his next class. The class he was due in was English. Gonzales, whose timetable differed, bid an awkward farewell at the door of the classroom, as Tubba thumped into the classroom, bracing himself for the jeers that were no doubt coming when he entered the classroom. Sure enough, his internal ears were beset with laughter and jibes as he strode into the classroom. He let his eyes wander across the laughing faces, settling his glare on the orange monstrosity that was casually reclining in his chair at the back of the classroom. "Oh? You want to go again?" Bubba smirked, making no move to remove his hands from behind his head. "I thought you were smarter than that, Tubby. But as usual, my expectations for you are far above what you are capable of." Tubba made no move to respond, for his eyes had already drifted past Bubba. Standing at the side of the pack around Bubba, clearly looking comfortable and leaning tenuously against the wall was his brother, Chubba. Chubba often made no move to protect his brother in these bullying onslaughts; consequently, Tubba had a feeling that Chubba was doing all he could to drive him away so that he could be King. While busy directing his ire toward Chubba, Tubba barely noticed that Bubba had lumbered up from his spot in the pack around his chair and was drawing closer to him. "Tubby, what are ''your ''expectations? Prisoner? Mario-fodder? Mario hasn't stormed through Gusty Gulch for six years; that's a shame, you could be first up." The event Bubba was referencing was the rare alliance between the Koopa Kingdom and the Clubba Kingdom. While many people, including Tubba himself, regarded the Koopa Kingdom as it's own functioning entity, officially and legally, the Koopa Kingdom was a sub-Kingdom of the Mushroom Kingdom, because, in 1996, the King of the Koopa Kingdom, Bowser, kidnapped the monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom on the prompting of his advisor, Kamek, in an effort to take over the Mushroom Mainland. The plan collapsed spectacularly and resulted in Mario reaching the Koopa Kingdom and storming into the heartland. The Koopa Kingdom was dissolved and was legally made a sub-Kingdom of the Mushroom Kingdom. The furious Koopas refused to be subservient to the Mushrooms, and, a decade later, still continued their fight. But it was in the early days of this independence movement that Bowser had approached Tubba Sr., Tubba's father, with the Star Rod, a mystical rod from Star Haven with incredible magical abilities. Bowser powered up Tubba Sr. into an invincible form of a Spiked Clubba, but even "The Invincible Tubba Blubba" was no match for Mario, as in the year 2000, Mario stormed through Gusty Gulch and freed the Star Spirit that Bowser had had Tubba Sr. protect. Tubba and Chubba, as the sons of the King, were taken away from Gusty Gulch at the time to secure the lineage should Mario get bloody. Bubba noticed that Tubba was not paying attention to him, and followed his glare to Chubba lounging against the wall. Chubba and Bubba were on cordial terms, both of them friends over their mutual dislike of Tubba. "Oy, Chubs, your brother is glaring daggers at you!" Bubba called Chubba over. Chubba, letting a smile drift onto his face, picked his way across the desks and people to Tubba. "How could two brothers be so apart?" Bubba questioned Chubba as he approached. "Chubs, do you have any idea what you want to do?" Chubba smirked. "Anything that earns me bags upon bags of money." His voice was a deep baritone, the natural voice for a Clubba, and it oozed satisfaction and confidence. Bubba clapped his hands together before putting Chubba in a friendly headlock, while gesturing at the crowd to cheer with his other hand. And cheer they did, chanting for Chubba. "Me, you ask?" Bubba inquired to the crowd , who had not actually been asking what profession Bubba was intending to go into. "I will be the COMMANDER OF THE ARMIES!" The crowd roared in approval, but Tubba couldn't help smiling. The Commander of the Armies would be his choice, and it definitely would not be Bubba. Bubba turned back to Chubba when the crowd had died down. "And what do you think your brother is going into?" Chubba exchanged a glance with Tubba, his eyes apathetic. He acted like he took a moment to ponder, and then responded with a heavy voice: "He's the older one, so the birthright of our father goes to him." "It must be a high ranking position," Laff remarked, his yellow scales shining in the artificial light. "You'd do a much better job, Chubba." He nudged the teal Clubba, who merely nodded, while sending a dazzling smile in Tubba's direction. "Yeah, that's what everyone says. If only birthright was on merit." Chubba snorted. Brothers were supposed to be with each other through thick and thin, as Tubba had read. But as his own brother continued explaining why he would do such a better job in a high-ranking position, Tubba felt another emotion than fury and disgust creep down his spine. Fear. How far would Chubba be willing to go to claim the throne?